The Best Places To Shop For Christmas Presents

Can you feel it? The wind is a lot cooler now. Shops are filled with bright and festive decorations. It only means one thing. Christmas is fast approaching. I’m sure both young and old alike are looking forward to this merriest time of the year. With the holidays comes lots of free time to spend with the people you love and to forget about worries about life and work even for a short time. Aside from the sumptuous food and the joyous sound of carols everywhere, one of the highlights during the holidays is the sharing of Christmas presents. I’m sure everybody is thinking about what gifts to buy for Christmas as there is roughly a month left before the holidays.

You still have time to finish your Christmas list if you start shopping now and you can save yourself from all the hassles of last-minute shopping when malls are already crowded and most items are sold at a regular price. Truly what can save your wallet and your sanity is shopping early but the question is where? Most shoppers now actually shop online. It’s a very convenient way to buy for just about everything under the sun without having to put yourself through all the inconvenience of old-school shopping where you have to get out of the house, drive to the mall, and walk for hours looking for the perfect gift. Now you can simply do it all using your computer without incurring additional expenses on gas and food and save time too.

2. Amazon.com

Once thought of primarily as an online bookseller, Amazon.com now sells thousands of products in dozens of categories. Customers seem to love it, too: A consumer survey conducted after the 2012 holiday season named Amazon the "most satisfying website to shop." With discounts on many items and free shipping on orders over $25, Amazon can also help you maintain your holiday budget.

Well, it’s a no-brainer that the Amazon is the go-to place for online shopping. It sells virtually everything you can ever think of and likewise offers amazing deals. You can easily finish your Christmas shopping in a snap if you browse the long list of products sold on Amazon. You just filter your search and look up gift ideas that you think the recipient will like so you don’t have to go through their entire product portfolio.

4. Local Stores

What treasures does your own town hold? Local shops often offer unique products and personal attention. You can also avoid the hassles of parking and fighting the crowds you'll experience at malls. If you like to consider the impact of your purchases, when you shop locally you support small businesses and infuse money into the local economy. Take a drive or a walk through the shopping areas of your town, or if you're looking for something specific, try finding a local business online.

(Via: http://best.lovetoknow.com/Best_Place_to_Shop_for_Christmas_Gifts)

If you have the time, though, and don’t mind going out of the house for a breather and to see the wonderful sights of Christmas decorations adorning most public and local attractions, visiting shops and the mall is a no-fail way to do your Christmas shopping. But if you aren’t a big fan of long lines and the big crowds that usually frequent the mall, visit local shops first or outlet stores as the lines are definitely shorter and you don’t need to worry about issues like parking or putting up with a crowd of harassed strangers who also want to get ahead of their shopping list.

eBay just announced the launch of Collective, a part of its site that uses in-house curation and artificial intelligence to make sorting through its more than 1 billion listings a little more manageable. The curated collection features everything from contemporary design to furniture antiques in a Pinterest-like format. And as for the artificial intelligence part? View photographs of posh rooms and get suggestions for items that you see and want. 

If your goal this season is to get out-of-the-ordinary gifts, Uncommon Goods sorts them all into one website, so say farewell to scouring giant chain stores for something unique. In the gift section alone, the site sorts products into various categories, such as "By Interest" (music, wine, etc.), "For Couples" and "For Teens 15 And Up" to make finding the perfect gift easy.  

(Via: http://www.elledecor.com/life-culture/g3335/online-shopping-sites/)

But then, if you think you are stressed out already by just merely existing and trying to juggle multiple tasks and simply embracing adulating, then stop stressing yourself and do online shopping instead. The best part here is that you get your items delivered to your doorsteps and you don’t have to go through all the shopping horrors you’ve been through in the past. It has its cons especially when it comes to shipping the wrong or incomplete items or if you want something replaced but it definitely has its perks too. You are not alone as millions of people also resort to the web for gift inspirations and making sure nobody important gets lets behind. And if people accuse you of taking the easy way out, you can easily point out that you have other things that need your attention like Christmas parties to organize and attend to, travel plans for a few who wants to spend Christmas at home, and you just want to enjoy the coming holiday without pressuring yourself too much to do everything by yourself.

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Intel’s Big AI Dreams

Many things in this world come and go. Not all have the capacity to last for centuries at the top of its games. Only a handful are capable of doing that and they are mostly big brands that have become household names and managed to ride the tide and survive the changing of trends and people’s interests. If there is one thing that truly defines today’s society, it has to do with the very strong presence of technology in just about every nook and cranny of this planet. Wherever you go, there is a tech device that is sure to take your fancy or catch you by surprise. Major opportunities are made or broken with tech. The advent of smartphones has also strengthened the power the Internet of Things has over us and it has brought the World Wide Web to the palm of our hands and as such we can only wonder what else is in store for all of us in the coming years.

But the journey of technology wasn’t a straight path to where it is now. There have been discoveries, breakthroughs, major embarrassments and disappointments and the cycle repeats itself year after year after year. Some companies that were once a part of the early days of the computer boom are nowhere to be heard of now or have taken the backseat as more popular and innovative brands take the center stage like Apple, Facebook, Google, Samsung, and many others. However, it does not mean that they can’t attempt to be relevant again and reclaim their old spot. It’s probably what Intel has in mind when it broadcasted its dream of taking part in the big AI boom through the use of its chips.

Intel might be an old-school computing company, but the chipmaker thinks the latest trends in artificial intelligence will keep it an important part of your high-tech life.

AI technology called machine learning today is instrumental to taking good photos, translating languages, recognizing your friends on Facebook, delivering search results, screening out spam and many other chores. It usually uses an approach called neural networks that works something like a human brain, not a sequence of if-this-then-that steps as in traditional computing.

Lots of companies, including Apple, Google, Qualcomm and Nvidia, are designing chips to accelerate this sort of work. But on Tuesday, Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich promised a major speed increase through its own chips, designed from the ground up for neural processing.

(Via: https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-says-its-computer-chips-will-accelerate-ai-revolution/)

Perhaps neural processing is the future and it can be accelerated by Intel chips, who knows. They probably have the brainpower, the manpower, and the enthusiasm to make such a thing happen only if they have sufficient funding for it. Business is going downhill as they haven’t positioned themselves well in the smartphone business, the PC market is troubling, and their only dominance in the data center technology is constantly threatened. Their statement of going after AI as well is perhaps their attempt to keep the company afloat and keep the business going for as long as they can before everyone else has caught up.

Intel is ready to ship its long awaited computer chip used to power artificial intelligence projects by the end of the year.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich explained the chip-maker’s foray into the red-hot field of artificial intelligence Tuesday and said that Facebook (FB, +0.06%) has assisted the company in prelude to its new chip’s debut.

“We are thrilled to have Facebook in close collaboration sharing its technical insights as we bring this new generation of AI hardware to market,” Krzanich wrote. An Intel spokesperson wrote to Fortune in an email that while the two companies are collaborating, they do not have a formal partnership.

(Via: http://fortune.com/2017/10/17/intel-facebook-artificial-intelligence-chip/)

With the system in place (Intel Nervana Neural Network Processor) to back them up, their big dreams of conquering the AI market may just be possible after all and their team up with Facebook may be a big boost to how the game is played and introduce an entirely new breed of AI hardware to the rest of the world. After all, this technology is needed in order to pursue deep learning related to how artificial intelligence works.

And this opportunity may really be the game changer for the company that is facing so many hardships right now after missing out on a lot of trends that took the world by storm in recent years. We are seeing history taking place in front of our eyes, so watch out because you’d be surprised that sooner rather than later, AI is already a part of the very fabric of our life like how smart technology crept steadily and changed the way we live our lives to date.

Intel’s Big AI Dreams is available on https://www.degrafa.com

source https://www.degrafa.com/intels-big-ai-dreams/

The Lost Art Of Cooking

Back in the days, people learned to cook by copying their elders, especially their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, or any mother figure in their household. You learn young basically because you are taught young too. Kids are expected to help with the household chores once they are big enough and these tasks become more complex as they age. So, people had no problems feeding themselves in the past as it was second nature for them to whip up delicious and healthy home-cooked meals for the entire family from sunrise to sunset. The problem with obesity was quite rare because kids seldom eat junks as they are well-fed from home or still had healthy snacks when they do indulge their sweet tooth.

Fast-forward many decades later and we have become an unhealthy population of obese people thriving on junks and do not know how to cook. What a shame, really. We have grown so accustomed to eating from fastfood, canned goods, and other ready-to-eat meals that require the most minimal of efforts from us. But how come we have been reduced to this species when we have all the technological means that are supposed to make our lives easier yet it seems that we lose time in doing the most important thing in life.

That’s never more evident than when you’ve got the hunger pangs. From snacking, to takeaway apps, to five-course meals, it’s never been easier to avoid the kitchen.
It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, then, to find out that the majority of young Brits avoid the ‘heart of the home’ altogether.

A new YouGov survey has revealed just that, with a whopping one-in-eight Brits admitting that they don’t cook for themselves.

The survey found that 9% of Brits hardly ever cook for themselves from fresh ingredients, while 4% never do. Instead, they’re reliant on ready meals, frozen food and eating out.

One in five (19%) ‘almost always’ cook from scratch, while 25% make their own meals ‘most days’.

(Via: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/18/one-in-eight-brits-dont-cook-for-themselves-6935827/)

Whether by choice or circumstance, we miss out on a lot of things by not being able to eat dishes prepared and cooked from home with the freshest ingredients from the market. You end up eating whatever you can get from the store if you don’t make a conscious effort of thinking what meal to cook for. For most of us and not just the Brits, we find it too time-consuming to cook up something. Why expend more energy when it is easier to buy a takeout or call for a delivery. You don’t have to do anything and you get to eat your food right away. The major downside here is that you have no idea what is in the food you are eating. So, don’t be surprised if obesity keeps on rising and cancer becomes as natural as the common cold and flu.

Four in ten (40%) millennials say the same but a slighter greater number say they disagree with how well standardize exams prepare students (47%). Americans between the age of 35-54 (54% of whom have children under 18, according to YouGov Profiles) are dead split in this view – 41% agreeing and disagreeing.

When asked if standardized tests prepare students for the tasks of daily life – like cooking for oneself or creating a budget and sticking to it – nearly six in ten adults said they didn’t (59%). YouGov also asked what abilities respondents would like a standardized test to measure and found that learning to budget (75%) and perform CPR (71%)were at the top. Over half of Americans (62%) wanted to test for memorization and creativity, two abilities that most standardized exams still measure, but life skills such as learning how to cook (63%), maintain a car (66%), and file taxes (68%) garnered much greater support.

(Via: https://today.yougov.com/news/2017/09/18/americans-want-skills-budgeting-and-cooking-added-/)

Even Americans these days finally understand the importance of life skills such as cooking and want to put more emphasis on it rather than rely on standardized testing in preparing students for what’s life outside of school. While it helps to know more about the major subjects related to your course, it won’t hurt if you also master life skills like cooking and making a budget for your daily expenses because they do matter in real life. It is not always about theory but more about the practical application of concepts. And what better way to do so than in feeding oneself. You don't just get sick if you don't eat right but you can die too.

The Lost Art Of Cooking Find more on: Degrafa Blog

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